


Sound and Silence

by orphan_account



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fake AH Crew, Hacker Gavin Free, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23202583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: So Gavin got older, as all people do. He watched his mark transform over time. Saw the innocence of his old marks disappear, watched the way his mark twisted and became darker with every passing month.orGavin and Ryan love to share secrets.
Relationships: Gavin Free/Ryan Haywood
Comments: 7
Kudos: 106





	Sound and Silence

For as long as Gavin remembered there had been words imprinted on his chest. Small things at first, dishonest things but nothing major. It was always about sneaking out, or things they didn't want to admit to their parents. The words flipped and changed every now and again, not too often but close enough to weekly. Secrets are such a fickle thing. 

The thing about the marks was they changed when someone’s biggest secret did. A 5 year old’s biggest secret is not finishing their food and feeding it to the dog, a 30 year old’s biggest secret is that they slept with their neighbour’s wife. They transformed and moulded with age, what good’s a secret if someone knows it before you do?

So Gavin got older, as all people do. He watched his mark transform over time. Saw the innocence of his old marks disappear, watched the way his mark twisted and became darker with every passing month. 

He was most shocked when he was 13, staring at the mirror, half asleep and feeling drained when he saw it clear as day “I just killed a man.”

\-- -- -- 

When Ryan was growing up the mark had never been important to him. It was always ‘I ate all the biscuits’ or ‘I broke my mum’s favourite picture frame’, all insignificant things, never anything severe until he was older. Sexuality floated around on him, hintings of curiosity danced across his chest in bold black lettering, sometimes Ryan wondered if people forgot about their soulmates, didn’t think of their actions of being imprinted on someone else’s being for an undetermined amount of time. It intrigued him. 

It was when he was 23 that his soulmate captured his interest. Ryan can’t remember much about the day itself, he couldn’t tell you the weather nor the TV show he was watching. He was waiting for a job, waiting for an e-mail from some crew or another to make a hit on someone, the only viable career option he had. 

He does remember walking around his apartment shirtless, making coffee and food so his body felt energised until he walked past a mirror. He saw the words had changed, the secret had become longer. He looked at it properly, tracing the words on his chest where they sat. 

“I managed to shut down the FBI.” 

\-- -- -- 

Gavin doesn’t remember how he got this job, only remembers being told that some new start-up crew was willing to pay handsomely for a new hacker. Gavin had been sick of his job, some stupid tech support role in the east of the city, he was sick of troubleshooting people’s wifi when they had got rid of their modem, tired of people questioning him about the printer. Gavin hated his job so much, it drained him having all this knowledge and power and feeling like it was going to waste. 

He remembers the day he joined though, he was sitting with his legs in Geoff’s lap showing him how easy it was to breach the database for the LSPD and change around their files, showed him various pages of the FBI and CIA too. He sat there just mumbling and breaking through firewalls he managed to pass several times before. 

Geoff had looked astonished to see someone so flawlessly work their way through firewalls with such high security, he wanted to see everything Gavin had to offer to his new crew. He knew he was missing people right now, there was only him, Jack and Michael so far. He wanted it to grow, how big he didn’t know. He had allies already from his work in previous crews but he knew he needed good assets, people worth being with him rather than against him. 

By the end of the day, Ryan had ‘FAHC’ on his chest. 

\-- -- -- 

Gavin liked the sun, it was a lot warmer in Los Santos than England. The rain fell less frequently, the winds cooled him rather than freezing him. He also liked the way the sun shone in the penthouse, where the glass walls let the light filter through as he lay half-asleep on the sofa in the living room while the sounds of the crew passed by him. 

Jack was making drinks in the kitchen, making sure everyone had their coffee fix in the morning, Geoff was being loud in the heist room, probably taking down the old maps and somehow managing to trip over, Michael was downstairs in their training room using the punching bag and Jeremy was playing something on their main Xbox. It was the ambience of every day that made Gavin content, the small sounds that passed through his ears at most moments that relaxed him. There was routine here, set times when everyone woke up, set times when everyone eventually emerged from their rooms. He let himself bask in it, let the sun hit him as he lay curled up on the sofa under a fleece blanket left there.    
  
He liked it when he soaked in his surroundings in the morning, let their hustle and bustle of their building run through him. Sometimes a bang would happen and he’d be briefly pulled from his relaxation, he still enjoyed it though. He let himself have time away from his computer, liked it when he could experience existing without being stuck behind his laptop screen. It was the small things that made him feel human, the smell of roasted coffee beans and the way the sofa sagged under him. Life felt better when it was the little things that brought the most satisfaction. 

\-- -- -- 

Ryan struggled some days. He’d stay in bed for half an hour before he went on a run, he’d drag himself to his kitchen to get food. He was running low on motivation. He hadn’t seen a new message on his chest in years now, the same bland ‘FAHC’ had been imprinted for as long as he could remember. He struggled now to picture other words being there, when his soulmate was more innocent and could barely handle the thought of telling someone he ate all the snacks in his house. 

He started thinking about what could currently be on his soulmate’s chest while he hauled himself around his apartment, the idea of coffee being the only thing keeping him from going back to bed. He needed something bitter to wake him up, get a little buzz while he worked his way through the morning, waiting for a job to come to him. 

He remembers back when he would kill voluntarily. When he just wanted to build a name for himself in a city that he’d yet to experience. They were always dull things, people’s lovers threatening to expose them, dishonest low-level rats that had made off with some of their money, maybe a henchman if it was needed. The days before he needed money, when his electricity had been turned off and the only heat could get was his kitchen stove. Thinks about how pathetic it was to basically beg to end someone’s life. 

He was better now, could pick and choose his contracts, liked letting himself ponder over whose life he could take away, like some corrupt mortal god. Ryan did like to think though, liked to let himself drift into the fantasy where he could belong to something bigger, something more than what he had. 

\-- -- -- 

Gavin was bad with dates, could stare at a calendar for half an hour before remembering what day of the week it was. He forgot birthdays, forgot anniversaries, definitely wouldn’t be able to tell you the date of when he moved out of England. They took up too much space in his brain, all these useless things to remember that hardly carried any meaning. He had never been a fan of clinging onto the past, hated History in school, can barely stutter out his date of birth. 

So it’s no surprise that he wouldn’t even be able to say the date he found out who his soulmate was. He was new, infamous, dangerous. The combination that had always got him a bit hot under the collar mixed with a hot body. The Vagabond had always been a force to be reckoned with in Los Santos, a man with no face and no name who wandered the streets silently. He was renowned for never missing a hit and his charges were high - this time he wasn’t there for a kill. 

When he had walked in Gavin had perked his head up and smiled, he had been looking at something for Geoff, couldn’t have been anything of great significance. He had had his fingers dancing around his keyboard for the better part of half an hour when he had walked in, dead silent. His boots had slammed against the ground as he entered, leather jacket rustled when he moved yet no voice was to be heard. 

He remembers something feeling weird about him, not even the reputation, just something feeling very much off in a way he had never felt with strangers before, a small twitch in his chest that he hadn’t been able to register as any particular emotion, so he ignored it as he did with most things he didn’t understand and let himself drown in his work. 

\-- -- -- 

Ryan remembered vividly when he met Gavin. Remembered how the stars glittered, the lights on the floor had trails of smoke hung above them, the drinks flowed around him and he refused to take one, instead deciding to drink a Diet Coke with Geoff and watch as the others bounced around the pool. 

Most of them had their shirts off, words scattered on varying body parts that they paid little mind to. He didn’t though, didn’t know how comfortable he was with doing that yet, wasn’t sure what they’d say about the scars that littered his body from stray bullets and other scrapes he’d gotten into over the years. Ryan wasn’t one to want to expose himself to others. 

He remembered dawdling there for what felt like hours, the humidity of the night was kicking in and he could feel his shirt start to stick to his skin, he knew he’d give in soon, end up shirtless and jump in with the others when he could no longer cope. It was a bonding exercise for him, a way to get to know the guys before he started running with them full time before he revealed himself to the public as a Fake. 

He didn’t notice that as he stood lost in his thoughts Gavin’s mark was rearranging itself right in front of him. 

\-- -- -- 

When Gavin had looked down and seen his mark rearranging he yelped. He’d never seen it happen, only woken up with a new secret embedded on him. He saw the letters move like musical notes in a movie, brushing across his chest in every direction they could before forming a new phrase, a real person’s newest secret. 

When he looked at his newly regenerated mark he laughed, in clear bold letters ‘FAHC’ stood loud on his chest. Harsh in its design and powerful in its simplicity. He couldn’t help it, he cackled louder and louder and louder as his crew examined the words imprinted on his skin. 

Ryan smirked lightly when he noticed the finished formation, knew the same ones were marked upon him as well. Thought about the coincidence of two people in the same crew being soulmates, unless it was the fates that had drawn him to them, maybe it had been the fates that had made him feel so lonely he had turned to the Fakes for loyalty, for friendship, for some form of unity within him. It seemed accurate. If the fates know everyone’s secrets maybe they are more powerful than they are given credit for. It was a ridiculous sentiment - that entities exist that are powerful enough to control a being’s whole life, but it was one he could not shake. 

Ryan snapped back into the moment, where everyone was thinking about people who might consider FAHC a secret to them. He knew it was him, everyone on b-team was always so loud and proud about being with the crew and helping them, the only other person who kept it a secret was Gavin, the only person who needed protection from the public eye, their secret hacker that none of the other crews were allowed to know about. 

He thought about the consequences for a moment, considered how a soon reveal from the new guy may get him kicked out of the crew. Until he remembered this crew isn’t like the others, your skill is not as important as your loyalty, this crew was built on the foundation of friendship first. 

So he did what he wanted to, took off his shirt and tried to feel as though he was as vulnerable as he felt. These were people he would come to trust in his own time, but the idea of his tattoo being the same as Gavin’s was too golden to not show to everyone else. He knew Gavin wouldn’t understand what it meant, he’d have to be blatantly obvious about what it meant for him to understand, maybe he could write a code that would project “WE’RE SOULMATES.” all over his laptop screen, although that sounded like more effort than words. 

  
“Hey Gavin, we match!” Ryan yelled when his shirt was on the floor, 

“Ryan, that’s wicked! How long you had that?” Gavin yelled from the pool. He took a sip from his cocktail that rested on the side of the pool. 

“3 years-ish,” Ryan answered, not remembering the exact amount of time since the secret had changed. 

And that was when Gavin choked on his cocktail, apparently not as bad as inference as he made it appear. Ryan only felt a little bit smug when Gavin spluttered, Michael ran to his side to see if he could calm down the coughing, Geoff looked absolutely shocked. 

\-- -- -- 

Ryan didn’t think being a soulmate would be as fun as it was. He would stay up late with Gavin, watching him break into bank accounts at 3 am when hardly anyone would monitor his patterns, liked watching his fingers burn through his keyboard as he typed various access codes - dug up dirt and moved money with the ease of someone who had too much experience. 

He loved when Gavin would be nearly finished, tongue poking between his teeth and eyelids drooping slowly. Loved it even more when he would slam the cover of his laptop shut and start being whiney. 

His favourite times when Gavin would fall asleep on the sofa and he could carry him into their room, when his fingers would cling to his chest and Gavin’s breath would hit his neck just right. Adored his sleepy little soulmate with everything in him. 

He loved the morning’s after too, there Gavin would refuse to let go and get out of bed, he would insist on Ryan staying in bed and playing with his hair. These days he was the least productive, would sit there with his little exhausted boyfriend and pamper him all day with cuddles and pasta. 

Ryan never imagined how ideal romance would be, the loneliness stayed at bay and a smile was permanently etched onto his face. Trapped in a perfect scenario with only one person by his side.    
  
Ryan didn’t think life would ever get more ideal than what he had at the moment. 

**Author's Note:**

> Tune in Sunday for Preacher, also known as the last official fic of the collection. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated, and remember to follow my tumblr @goldenboy-gav (I'm gonna post there soon about fic requests to start a new series if y'all are interested!) 
> 
> Stay safe x


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